The Aryans For many thousands of years, mankind has lived along the Indus River Valley. Living a simple life of hunting, gathering, farming and agriculture, these people were able to thrive, raise families, and practice their religious beliefs. The Aryans were a fair skinned people that originated somewhere near the Caspian and Black Sea around 1500 B.C. The Aryan people used greater technologies than many of the people around them. For many hundreds of years the Aryans spread from the region near these two seas towards the Indus River Valley.
After conquering the peoples of the Indus River Valley, the Aryans continued to push their territory outward. They moved towards the southeast, and conquered the people of the Ganges Plain. The Aryan culture eventually spread throughout much of South Asia. Many aspects of Aryan culture still exist today in these regions today.
Language For many hundreds of years the Aryans did not have a written language. Instead, they passed their history down from one generation to another through stories, poems, and epics. The people memorized these oral stories, and handed them down to future generations. Around 1200 B.C. the Aryans developed a written language. The oral traditions that had been handed down were recorded in sacred books called Vedas, or “Books of Knowledge”.
These Vedas give historians an accurate window into the lives and culture of the Aryan peoples. Without them, we would know very little about the Aryans. Social Class From the Vedas, we learn a great deal about the Aryan's social caste system. A social caste is a rank, or level within a society that tells other members of the society how important each individual is. The highest were the priests, called Brahmans. The Brahmans were the only people that were allowed to both read and teach from the Vedas. The next most important rank were the Kshatriyas. The Kshatriyas were made up of the warriors, and rulers of villages. These people were allowed to study the Vedas,they were not allowed to teach them to other people. After the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas were the third highest rank. The Vaisyas were made up of artists, merchants, and farmers. These people could not study, nor teach from the Vedas.The lowest ranked people were the Sudras. The Sudras were the servants of the other three ranks above them, and were responsible for doing the jobs that no one else wanted. ReligionOver time the Aryan religion slowly evolved, becoming more complex, and rich with tradition and ceremony. The religion grew to become Hinduism, which is one of the main religions still practiced in the region today. The 500 B.C.’s were a period of religious change in the Indus River Valley, and surrounding regions. Many religious leaders began to question the long standing Hindu values and teachings. New teachers began to travel, teaching new ideas, and forming new religions. The most influential of these teachers was a prince by the name of Siddhartha Gautama.
Siddhartha Gautama's position of power in India allowed him to live a life of great comfort. This sheltered life kept him from seeing the state of poverty and sickness that many of the people lived in. When Gautama was 29 years old, he began to tour his kingdom. Gautama was shocked at how much his people suffered. Distressed, Gautama left in search of truth and enlightenment. For the next seven years he wandered and pondered humanity and life. During these wanderings, Gautama developed a series of truths, which he began teaching to his family friends, and eventually to many others. His followers began to call him the Buddha, or “Enlightened One”.
No matter how many Persians, Greeks, Chinese nomads, Arabs, Portuguese, British and other raiders had their way with the land, local Hindu kingdoms always survived their attacks, living out their own heroic achievements of conquest and collapse. All the while, these local dynasties built upon the roots of a culture well established since the time of the first invaders, the Aryans. In short, India has always been simply too big, too complicated, and too culturally delicate to let any one empire control it for long. The timeline below gives you more information about the many empires that took over India. (All pictures and information on this page were retrieved from: www.kidspast.com)
Timeline
2500 BC
Dravidian Civilization
1500 BC
Aryans invade India and conquered the Dravidians
1400 BC
The Vedas, the Hindu scripture, was written
800 BC
800-600 BC The sacred scripture, the Upanishads written
518 BC
Persians conquered Pakistan
500 BC
Buddhism was founded in India by Siddhartha Gautama
500 BC
Jainism was founded in India by Mahavira Jains
326 BC
Alexander the Great moved into India
324 BC
The Mauryan Empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya including Afghanistan and parts of central Asia
272 BC
Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, becomes the emperor of India
185 BC
The Maurya Empire ended
50 AD
The Kushans established an empire in northern India
320
The Gupta Indian dynasty reunited northern India initiating the "golden Age" of India
700s
Muslim armies from Arabia invade India
1206
Qutb ub-din Aybak establishes the Delhi Sultanate
1398
Timur conquered India resulting in the decline of the Delhi Sultanate
1498
Vasco da Gama becomes the first European explorer to reach India
1500's
Christianity was introduced to India by the Europeans and in the early 1500s Sikhism was founded by Nana
1526
Babur established the Mughal Empire
1600
Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the East India Company established trading posts in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras
1628
Shah Jahan, the ruler of the Mughal Empire, builds the Taj Mahal
1658
The Strict Muslim, Aurangzeb, ruled India and tried to force Hindus to convert to Islam
1757
The Battle of Plassey: Robert Clive, an agent of the East India Company, leads forces which defeated the Mughal governor of Bengal
1774
Warren Hastings appointed the first governor general of India by the East India Company
1857
The Sepoy Rebellion
1858
The British government ruled India via an Indian Viceroy- called the British Raj
1876
Queen Victoria was given the title Empress of India by the British Parliament
1885
Burma became an Indian province The Indian National Congress was formed
1905
The British government divided Bengal into separate Hindu and Muslim sections
For many thousands of years, mankind has lived along the Indus River Valley. Living a simple life of hunting, gathering, farming and agriculture, these people were able to thrive, raise families, and practice their religious beliefs. The Aryans were a fair skinned people that originated somewhere near the Caspian and Black Sea around 1500 B.C. The Aryan people used greater technologies than many of the people around them. For many hundreds of years the Aryans spread from the region near these two seas towards the Indus River Valley.
After conquering the peoples of the Indus River Valley, the Aryans continued to push their territory outward. They moved towards the southeast, and conquered the people of the Ganges Plain. The Aryan culture eventually spread throughout much of South Asia. Many aspects of Aryan culture still exist today in these regions today.
For many hundreds of years the Aryans did not have a written language. Instead, they passed their history down from one generation to another through stories, poems, and epics. The people memorized these oral stories, and handed them down to future generations. Around 1200 B.C. the Aryans developed a written language. The oral traditions that had been handed down were recorded in sacred books called Vedas, or “Books of Knowledge”.
Social Class
From the Vedas, we learn a great deal about the Aryan's social caste system. A social caste is a rank, or level within a society that tells other members of the society how important each individual is. The highest were the priests, called Brahmans. The Brahmans were the only people that were allowed to both read and teach from the Vedas. The next most important rank were the Kshatriyas. The Kshatriyas were made up of the warriors, and rulers of villages. These people were allowed to study the Vedas,they were not allowed to teach them to other people. After the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas were the third highest rank. The Vaisyas were made up of artists, merchants, and farmers. These people could not study, nor teach from the Vedas.The lowest ranked people were the Sudras. The Sudras were the servants of the other three ranks above them, and were responsible for doing the jobs that no one else wanted.
ReligionOver time the Aryan religion slowly evolved, becoming more complex, and rich with tradition and ceremony. The religion grew to become Hinduism, which is one of the main religions still practiced in the region today. The 500 B.C.’s were a period of religious change in the Indus River Valley, and surrounding regions. Many religious leaders began to question the long standing Hindu values and teachings. New teachers began to travel, teaching new ideas, and forming new religions. The most influential of these teachers was a prince by the name of Siddhartha Gautama.
Siddhartha Gautama's position of power in India allowed him to live a life of great comfort. This sheltered life kept him from seeing the state of poverty and sickness that many of the people lived in. When Gautama was 29 years old, he began to tour his kingdom. Gautama was shocked at how much his people suffered. Distressed, Gautama left in search of truth and enlightenment. For the next seven years he wandered and pondered humanity and life. During these wanderings, Gautama developed a series of truths, which he began teaching to his family friends, and eventually to many others. His followers began to call him the Buddha, or “Enlightened One”.
No matter how many Persians, Greeks, Chinese nomads, Arabs, Portuguese, British and other raiders had their way with the land, local Hindu kingdoms always survived their attacks, living out their own heroic achievements of conquest and collapse. All the while, these local dynasties built upon the roots of a culture well established since the time of the first invaders, the Aryans. In short, India has always been simply too big, too complicated, and too culturally delicate to let any one empire control it for long. The timeline below gives you more information about the many empires that took over India.
(All pictures and information on this page were retrieved from: www.kidspast.com)
Timeline
The Indian National Congress was formed
15 August 1947 India became independent
Information on timeline retrieved from:
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/places-timelines/22-history-india-timeline.htm
© Rachelle Dawson 2012. Last revised: May 8, 2012. All Rights Reserved. For more information, please contact: Rachelle Dawson rdawson@gmail.com